Courtesy: Solomon Times On Line


Futsal Boost Through Gifts

Tuesday, October 02, 2012

The development of futsal in the Solomon Islands has received a boost with the donation of 20 balls, supplied by the Royal Spanish Football Federation and distributed by OFC.
OFC futsal and beach soccer development officer Paul Toohey was on hand to present the balls to his counterpart from the Solomon Islands Football Association (SIFF), Victor Waiia, during a visit to Honiara this month and hopes they will be of great use.

"We hope the balls will be of assistance to Victor as he continues his fantastic work among the junior and youth players of Solomon Islands," Toohey says.

"We're sure the balls, combined with Victor's expertise and the SIFF Futsal Development Plan, will inspire many more future Kurukuru players on the courts around the region."

A further ten balls will be delivered to SIFF at a later date and all of the new balls will be used for training courses and competitions run by SIFF throughout the football-mad nation.

Waiia is grateful to OFC and the Spanish federation for their support and says the development of futsal in the Solomon Islands benefits hugely by such partnerships.

"OFC has done great work to support the growth of futsal in Solomon Islands and now we have an important partner in the Spanish federation," he says.

"This support will ensure that young children in our communities have access to quality futsal balls for training and games. With these things in place we will have a bright future for the code in our country."

The involvement of the Royal Spanish Football Federation is due to a Memorandum of Understanding with OFC, signed in May of last year.

The relationship has also led to Spanish national team coach Jos Venancio Lopez visiting the Solomon Islands to help train the Kurukuru, who will head to Spain for a series of friendlies in the build-up to their appearance at the FIFA Futsal World Cup.

The World Cup is set to take place in Thailand during November and Solomon Islands have been drawn in Group F with Russia, Guatemala and Colombia.

The Kurukuru have appeared on the world's biggest futsal stage once before, in 2008 in Brazil, but lost all four matches.






Posted by Luca Ranocchiari --> luca.ranocchiari@futsalplanet.com